Wells offers welcome surprise to the markets with their results

Wells Fargo offerred a welcome surprise to the market today, by not succumbing to another round of subprime losses as many other Banks are experiencing. I can imagine Wells will be popular with vendors and research companies now, unlike some of the others who are sufferring.

The timing was good, as traders sought to cover short positions, in anticipapation of the SEC ruling that those must all be reported now.

While earnings have declined at Wells Fargo for three straight quarters, the bank has stayed profitable amid the turmoil for much of the banking industry. Banks such as Citigroup and WaMu have reported multi-billion dollar losses and rival west coast banks such as Countrywide and IndyMac have had to sell or have failed because of losses on soured home loans.

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Shares in Wells Fargo, the fifth-largest US bank, leapt by more than 32 per cent on Wednesday after it reported better-than-expected second-quarter results and lifted its dividend, leading other financial stocks and broader equity markets higher.